Sugar Loaf’s characters: where are they now?

By Stephanie Purifoy
Sun contributor

Rusty and paint chipped chairlifts rest, suspended on their slack cables, creaking occasionally in the cool breeze. Pools remain drained, sprinkled with shattered glass and other detritus. Large holes dot the windows and broken glass coats the cracked concrete like glittering stars. The slopes remain overgrown and unruly with bushes and trails left behind by adventurous teenagers and structures are tattooed with bright graffiti.

This is Sugar Loaf, once the region’s premier ski resort and Leelanau County’s largest employer. Three hundred once worked here. Located off M-22, the artery of the peninsula, Sugar Loaf pulsed with traffic and commerce during these cold, quiet winter months until it closed in 2000. The resort was once a must stop on the scenic highway but the year-round bustle of visitors has been silenced. The ruby chairlifts that once spirited enthusiastic skiers to the top of the mountain are now still. The magnificent vistas that once drew people from miles around now only attract those willing to trespass.

Her slopes attracted the best skiers from all over the Midwest and hosted the first league races to take place in Michigan. But during the 1980s interest rates skyrocketed and the resort faced hard times. Sugar Loaf changed owners, but its financial troubles continued. A mixture of high interest rates and years of little snow combined to shutter the resort in early 2000. The once majestic destination has sat, vacant and decaying ever since.

Sugar Loaf fans have reason for optimism now than southern California hotelier and attorney Jeff Katofsky has acquired the resort from evasive longtime owner Remo Polselli. Katofsky closed on the purchase this past fall and visited for the first time in mid December. But he predicts it will take 3-5 years to reopen the long-shuttered ski hill and lodge. Click here to read our coverage of Katofsky.

This isn’t the story of those who ran Sugar Loaf into the ground. This is the story of her characters and personalities, how they reflect on the resort, and what they’re up to now.

Glen Arbor realtor John Peppler, like many others in the county, has deep ties to this mountain. His history with the resort goes back to the 1950s when he got his first job as a ticket scanner at the bottom of “Awful Awful” — Sugar Loaf’s steepest slope. In 1974 he became a ski instructor and worked in that position until the mountain’s demise “I miss the atmosphere and the friendships made the most,” says Peppler, “It was a great place to work and play.” After Sugar Loaf closed, he remained involved with skiing by coaching the Traverse City Saint Francis high school team. During his years at Sugar Loaf, he also worked as a real estate broker so he began doing that full time when the slopes closed 17 years ago. However, he still misses his skiing job. “It is really sad that a generation of Leelanau County kids have not had the opportunity to enjoy the skiing and experiences Sugar Loaf brought to the County,” says Peppler.

Mark Fisher also looks back on his time at Sugar Loaf with fondness. “Oh it was a happening place,” says Mark, “it was real busy, we were working seven days a week but it was okay because it was a lot of fun.” In the 1970s Fisher attended Michigan State University, but in the winters he worked at ski resorts up north. After hearing about its reputation, he applied to Sugar Loaf in 1975 and got a job as a ski instructor. He continued at that for two years before becoming the director of the ski school, a position he held for seven years. “I had a great staff,” Fisher remembers. “At one point I had hands down the best ski school in the state. We were always trying new things and doing stuff to get people involved and it was just a lot of fun.”

By 1986 Fisher had left Sugar Loaf to run his real estate business and his own little resort on Lime Lake. He did this because in his position as ski school director, he wasn’t skiing as much. He wanted to be able to make a living and still ski a lot. At that time he also started coaching the Glen Lake high school ski team. “Most people wouldn’t be able to leave their job at 2:30 to go to the school to meet the bus and then take days off to go to races so you have to be self-employed to do that,” Fisher says. After Sugarloaf closed in 2000, he continued to coach the Glen Lake team, which began skiing at Crystal Mountain. He led a couple teams and more than a few individuals to state championships. “You can watch them mature and grow as individuals and you can help them develop a skill set that they will have the rest of their lives. I love helping to pass that passion on to other people.”

One of the kids that he coached at Glen Lake was John Kasben. Kasben grew up in Leelanau County and around the Sugar Loaf culture, skiing there from a very young age. His first job was bussing tables at the resort at the age of 14 and continued working — through summers and winters — until he graduated high school. “It was a blast,” says Kasben, “everyone from the county hung out there and met friends from all over.” During his high school years, he skied with the Glen Lake ski team and says that the racing community was much different than it is now. They consistently raced against four or five other teams with much larger numbers than one would see today. “Seems like everyone skied and raced,” Kasben recalls.

After high school, Kasben took a break from skiing but when he returned to it in 2004, Sugar Loaf had closed and Crystal Mountain near Thompsonville was the region’s primary resort. There he ran into Fisher, who asked him to come and help out with his old high school race team. Kasben started assistant coaching in 2005 and stayed in that position until Fisher retired in 2013. Kasben then picked up the reigns and has been Glen Lake’s head coach ever since.

“I am so passionate about skiing and ski racing,” says Kasben, “it is so rewarding to teach and coach people of all ages and see their skills and abilities progress. When I see them grow as a skier and a person it makes all of the hard work pay off. I spend 75 percent of my coaching doing paperwork and 25 percent on hill, which isn’t great but when even one kid reaches their personal goals, it makes it all worth it.”

Kasben also began working at Crystal Mountain as a ski instructor and then eventually moved up to race and event manager. This position has given him the opportunity to volunteer at events such as the FIS World Cup races and Nastar Nationals. He is currently office manager at Maple Valley Nursing Home but wishes to stay involved with the racing community.

All the people of Sugar Loaf, whether they were there for only a couple of years or for their whole life, have been impacted by the experiences they had. Sugar Loaf was a place where people discovered their love for skiing and for the outdoors. It was a place where individuals could connect with others through this love. Its absence has been felt deeply by the community and many yearn for a day when the historic resort will get back on its feet to provide another generation with the opportunity to pursue their passions.

Until then, we wait and hope.